China’s Energy Spending Dwarfs US And EU Combined – A Seismic Power Shift

China’s energy machine just hit overdrive. The numbers are staggering. In 2025, China’s total energy spending nearly matches what the US and EU spend together. Let that sink in. One country versus two of the world’s largest economies.

This isn’t some gradual shift. It’s a full-blown power grab. Global energy investment is set to hit $3.3 trillion in 2025, and China’s the biggest spender by far. Clean energy investment alone topped $625 billion in 2024, almost double what it was in 2015. China didn’t just meet its 2030 wind and solar targets—it blew past them years early.

China’s clean energy investment doubled since 2015, obliterating its 2030 targets years ahead of schedule.

The scale is mind-boggling. By February 2025, solar and wind capacity actually surpassed coal for the first time. That’s 1,456 GW of renewable power. Solar capacity jumped 42.9% year-over-year in early 2025. Wind generation grew 16% to 412 TWh. These aren’t incremental improvements. They’re massive leaps. China’s clean energy share climbed from 25% to nearly 33% of global investment over the past decade.

China’s not just building generators. Grid investment hit $20 billion in the first four months of 2025, up 15%. They’re modernizing everything, spending $6 billion on transmission expansion in just two months. That’s a 34% jump from last year. Someone’s thinking ahead. The country’s pouring USD 88 billion into grid, storage, and smart infrastructure in 2025 alone.

The results? Pretty dramatic. New zero-emissions electricity covered all new demand growth in early 2025. Power demand rose 2.5% in Q1 2025, but CO2 emissions from the power sector dropped 5.8%. Solar hit 11% of total electricity generation. Wind reached 13%. Both are world records for any country.

Here’s the kicker: coal generation is expected to plateau over 2025 and 2026. China’s actually decoupling economic growth from carbon output. Nuclear power’s up 12.7% too, reaching 159 TWh in four months. Their Belt and Road initiative has already installed a staggering 156 gigawatts of energy capacity in partner countries since its inception.

This represents a seismic shift in global energy leadership. While others debate targets, China’s pouring concrete and stringing wires. The West spent decades dominating energy markets. Now China’s rewriting the playbook. Love it or hate it, the energy world’s center of gravity just moved east. Way east.